UCLA

In 2016 Grace was ranked #7 nationally and #1 in the West by ESPN for the best recruiters based on feedback from a D1 coaching peer survey by ESPN. "^[15] On March 24, 2018 long time Tucson sports columnist Greg Hansen, in referring to rejuvenating the Arizona Wildcat program after their first round NCAA exit, asked in his column "Is (Sean) Miller willing to pursue someone like UCLA's David Grace, who, in my opinion, is the league's most feared recruiter and top assistant coach?"^[16]

Grace completed 11 years of coaching in the Pac-12 Conference where he was one of the longest tenured coaches. Until 2018, he was an assistant coach at UCLA under head coach Steve Alford, his fifth season with the Bruins who had 117 wins during his time there.^[17] Three of Grace's first four seasons at UCLA ended with Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.^[18]

ESPN ranked the 2018 Bruin recruiting class number two in the nation behind only Duke. "With this current class, it's fairly clear that UCLA has re-established itself as one of the premier recruiting schools in the country. Given the Bruins' history, that shouldn't be news -- but they have now landed nine ESPN 100 prospects in the last two recruiting classes, on the heels of two five-star prospects and three one-and-done prospects from the 2016 class."^[19]

"David has been tremendous," Alford said. "I've been fortunate in my 23 years to not just hire people who understand basketball but who are also really good people, and that's what David is. He's a great guy and he's a tireless worker. He's always on the phone calling or texting recruits."^[20]

The 2016–17 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team included new recruits Lonzo Ball (the Naismith National Prep Player of the Year), T. J. Leaf, and Ike Anigbogu, and was rated the fifth best recruiting class in the nation by ESPN.^[21] Grace had recruited Ball prior to Alford arriving at UCLA. "They went up the court about four times, then stopped," Grace recalled. "I walked over to his head coach and said [Lonzo] has a scholarship offer from Oregon State. I knew he was that good."^[22] After his freshman season with UCLA Ball was voted consensus first team All-American (USBWA, NABC, and Sporting News) and won the Wayman Tisdale Award as the top freshman in America.^[23] T. J. Leaf led UCLA in scoring at 16.3 ppg and was voted First Team All-Pac-12 Conference.^[24]

Columnist Clay Fowler of the Orange County Register wrote that these Bruins tied a program record with 28 regular season wins (31–5 overall, 15-3 Conference) and spent nearly half the season in the top five of the AP poll, rising as high as No. 2. UCLA finished its season as the highest-scoring team in the country (89.8 points per game), the nation's leader in field-goal percentage (52.2), assists per game (21.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.91). The Bruins’ peaked with a road victory at Arizona on Feb. 25 that earned UCLA the distinction as the only team to ever win games in Kentucky and Arizona's home arenas in the same season.^[25]

Ball and Leaf both declared for the NBA draft after the conclusion of the 2016–17 season and were drafted in the first round along with Ike Anigbogu in the second round.^[26]

Shortly before the Final Four of the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Grace was informed that he would not be retained by UCLA, being replaced by Murry Bartow.^[27]

California

He was then hired by Wyking Jones to be an assistant coach for the California Golden Bears men's basketball team in April 2018.^[28] Jones had previously worked for Steve Alford at the University of New Mexico racking up 52 wins in two years before heading to Louisville under Rick Pitino where they won the NCAA D1 National Championship in 2013. On October 1, 2018, Grace landed Joel Brown as a Cal commit, the number 4 ranked player in Canada (from Toronto), and the number 12 ranked PG in the class of 2019 according to 247Sports. https://www.zagsblog.com/2018/10/02/joel-brown-to-cal/

Vanderbilt

On April 16, 2019, Grace was hired by Jerry Stackhouse to be the associate head coach for the Vanderbilt Commodores.^[29] Stackhouse, an 18-year NBA player, was signed to a six-year deal by new AD Malcolm Turner, after serving as an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors and had also been the NBA G League Coach of the Year for the Raptors 905. Turner became Vanderbilt's Vice Chancellor and AD shortly before hiring Stackhouse who he had worked with previously as president of the NBA G League. "If you ask Coach Stackhouse, he'll give credit where it's due, labeling Grace as an 'unbelievable, tireless recruiter.' But that just scratches the surface. He reiterates Grace's message; he understands that his associate head coach is far more than just a recruiter. “He recruited a couple of my kids, Brandon Ingram in particular... We formed a relationship, and he had a reputation as a great coach, a great person and a great recruiter. David will get us talent, but he's so much more than that. He'll still show off what he is: a really good basketball coach.”^[30]

Vanderbilt's first recruit under Stackhouse and Grace was Scotty Pippen Jr. of Sierra Canyon HS in California, son of NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls who won six NBA championships led by Michael Jordan. He re-committed in late April 2019. http://www.espn.co.uk/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/26604899/vanderbilt-signs-pippen-jr-son-hall-famer. Their second commit was 6'6" Kenyon Martin Jr., son of 15 year NBA player Kenyon Martin, who teamed up with Scotty Pippen Jr. at Sierra Canyon HS to go 32-3 and win the California State Championship Open Division in 2019. However, Martin decided to pursue a pro career abroad instead of attending college.^[31]

After only one season on the recruiting circuit Grace was named by his fellow college basketball coaches as the number one recruiter in the Southeast after having been ranked number one on the West Coast for several years while he was at UCLA.^[32] On February 5, 2020, Vanderbilt broke its record setting SEC consecutive game losing streak (26) begun the previous season under the previous head coach and beat 18th ranked LSU 99–90 in Nashville by shooting 57% from the field and scoring more points that it has in any game in the last eight years.^[33] Though down to six scholarship players due to injuries, including the loss of the SEC's leading scorer and shooter, Aaron Nesmith, Vanderbilt won back to back SEC games over Alabama (away) and South Carolina (home) to end the regular season. "The Commodores have upset LSU (then No. 18), Alabama and the Gamecocks. They also suffered five hard-fought losses by single-digit margins to No. 6 Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Missouri.".^[34]

In April 2020 Sports illustrated reported that Grace was one of the top 50 most impactful coaches in the country at the high D1 level joining 10 other SEC assistant coaches.^[35] In May 2020 it was reported that Coach David Grace and Special Advisor Ricardo Patton were no longer with Vanderbilt.^[36]

2021 NCAA Final Four, NBA, and other pro players

Grace recruited five of the top eight rotation players for the UCLA Bruins 2021 Final Four team, who are also #2 in ESPN's 2021-2022 rankings. His other former recruits (commits) and players who have played in the NBA as of 2022 include Jordan Adams, Lou Amundsen, Kyle Anderson, Ike Anigbogu, LaMelo Ball, Lonzo Ball, Jerryd Bayless, Jonah Bolden, Jared Cunningham, Aaron Holiday, Zach LaVine, T. J. Leaf, Saben Lee, Kevon Looney, Kenyon Martin Jr., Eric Moreland, Aaron Nesmith, Norman Powell, Travis Wear, Thomas Welsh, Chris Smith, Jules Bernard, and Scotty Pippen Jr. Five of these players were NBA Lottery picks in the Ball brothers, Bayless, LaVine, and Nesmith. Scotty Pippen Jr. of Vanderbilt was All-SEC and nominated for the Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award for 2022 as a junior.

LaVine and Lamelo Ball were selected to play in the 2022 NBA All Star Game. LaVine was also selected to play in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game as well as for Team USA in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. LaMelo Ball was voted the 2021 NBA Rookie of the Year with the Charlotte Hornets. In 2022 Lonzo Ball and LaVine were both starting for the Chicago Bulls who at 38-21 were currently tied for first in the Eastern Conference and had been rejuvenated, in part, due to Ball's passing at the point guard position, according to Grace. "The year before Lonzo gets to UCLA we weren’t very good. He comes in and changes the whole culture with the pass. ...We ran basically the same plays from the year before and it just goes to show you what can happen when you bring a person in and he cares more about his teammates and about passing the basketball. That’s what I think is happening now with the Bulls.”^[37]

2022 Return To Head Coaching

In 2022 Grace accepted the position of Head Coach at legendary athletic powerhouse Centennial High School in Peoria, AZ. At 18-10 and ranked the #5 seed in their 5A division Grace led his squad back to the Final Four in the state playoffs. It is Grace's most recent trip to the State Final Four since his Phoenix South Mountain team won the 5A state championship in 2006. Centennial lost by one point to #1 seed Campo Verde in an away game to finish the season.

In the seventeen years between AZ HS Final Fours he served as a D1 level Assistant Coach and Associate head coach in the Big Sky, WCC, Pac 12, and the SEC athletic conferences. He co-led those teams to multiple NCAA and CBI tournaments, winning a Pac 12 Championship, and reaching as high as a #2 national ranking for the UCLA Bruins behind current NBA star Lonzo Ball.

In 2023 Coach Grace accepted the position of Head Coach at Studio City powerhouse Campbell Hall School in Los Angeles, CA, where he will be coaching the sons of NBA greats such as Rip Hamilton. Campbell Hall was the home of the Holiday brothers, Justin, Jrue, and Aaron, all currently in the NBA. Aaron Holiday played for Coach Grace at UCLA.

In his first season with Campbell Hall he led the varsity squad to the CIF Southern Section 2AA Championship Quarterfinals where they lost in an away game at St. Anthony's 91–86. No Campbell Hall boy's basketball team has ever made it that far at the 2AA level, which is the second highest level in California.